SPELLING

[Spelling Bee competitions in Victorian Kennington and Guildford.] Eleven items, including an advertisement, a programme, tickets of entry and competitor's ticket, newspaper cuttings, compiled by T. W. Williams, manager of Kennington competitions.

Author: 
Spelling Bee competitions in Victorian Kennington and Guildford [T. W. Williams, manager; The Impartial Spelling Bee Association, Williams & Rhodes, Kennington; F. Ridgway; J. Irving Dixon]
Publication details: 
Competitions in Kennington and Guildford, 1876. Manager of Kennington competitions: 'Mr. T. W. Williams, 149, Lower Kennington Lane, S.E.'
£220.00

The eleven items are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, laid down on two heavily-worn leaves removed from an album. An interesting slice of social history, relating to introduction into England of a phenomenon which began in the Unites States in the 1850s. Nine of the items relate to spelling bees in Kennington, managed by the compiler of the material T. W. Williams, and one to a 'Grand Spelling Bee' in Guildford.

[ Simplified Spelling; pamphlet ] Petition for a Royal Commission to Examine the Question of English Spelling [continued below]

Author: 
[ Simplified Spelling Society ]
Publication details: 
The Darien Press, Edinburgh, [1925]
£120.00

[Tite continued] Papers read at the Meeting of the Simplified Spelling Society at the Conference of Educationla Asociations 3rd January 1925]. Pamphlet, 24p., 8vo, printed paper wraps, dulled/sunned, stapled sl. rusted, ow good condition. Chairman Reginald Macan, input from various people inc. Percy Simpson. Two copies recorded (at Leeds and Birmingham).

[ G. A. Beale, spelling reformer. ] Two Typed Letters (one signed 'G. A. Beale', the other incomplete) to Philip Howard of The Times, on his system of spelling reform. With his booklet 'Items: The First Book Printed in Advanced English Orthography'.

Author: 
G. A. Beale [ George Alexander Beale ], proprietor of the Cadenza Press, and inventor of the 'Advanced English Orthography' [ Philip Howard (1933-2014), journalist at The Times ]
Publication details: 
Booklet ('Items . Publication Number . E35 | Printed & Published by Gilbert Beale at his Cadenza Press | 19 Wellington Road, London W5', and consisting of 'About 100 copies'. The two letters from the same address. All three items dating from 1989.
£180.00

The three items in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Booklet: [2] + iv + 29 + [2]pp., 8vo. With fold-out table at front. Nicely printed in green paper wraps with white label printed in red and black. According to the colophon 'The type is 14 point Monotype Bembo 270 augmented by 7 newly designd characters engraved by Ludlow Ltd Hertford | About 100 copies impressed on Archive Text paper in September 1989'.

[Simplified Spelling Board, New York.] Twenty-five printed circulars, numbered 1-21, 23-25 (including two versions of 16), promoting English spelling reform.

Author: 
Simplified Spelling Board, New York [Thomas R. Lounsbury; Mark Twain; Calvin Thomas; Brander Matthews; Henry Holt; Burt G. Wilder; William Hayes Ward, Editor of The Independent; William H. Maxwell]
Publication details: 
The twenty-five items printed by the Simplified Spelling Board, 1 Madison Avenue, New York, between 30 April 1907 and 30 September 1911.
£950.00

The Simplified Spelling Board was founded in 1906, funded by Andrew Carnegie, and counted Mark Twain and President Theodore Roosevelt, and the English lexicographers James A. H. Murray, Walter W. Skeat and Joseph Wright among its members. The present collection of the Board's Circulars consists of 25 uniform items, all unbound and stapled. The collection is in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with occasional wear. Stamps, shelfmarks and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library, London.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Louis Havet, professeur au Collège de France, 16 place Vendôme') to 'Monsieur le Directeur du Journal de Bruxelles, Belgique'.

Author: 
Louis Havet (1849-1925), French philologist whose classical library was acquired by the University of California
Publication details: 
14 May 1889; Paris.
£65.00

12mo, 1 p, 14 lines. Good, on light-brown paper, with the address, stamps, and postmarks on the reverse. In French. He sends his thanks to the 'Journal de Bruxelles' for reproducing his 'article sur la réforme de l'orthographe'. He is sending a petition (not present) which 'en ce moment ce couvre de signatures à Paris', and will be personally grateful if his correspondent can see to it that it is reproduced 'avec les indications qui l'accompagnent'. Loose in blue paper folder with catalogue entry for the previous sale of the letter laid down on front.

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